ITV proposes cutting back on regional news content

The proposal has been officially submitted as part of Ofcom’s 86-page report to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

ITV has proposed cutting back on its regional news programming as part of its submission to Ofcom on the renewal of its broadcasting licences from 2015.

The proposal has been officially submitted as part of Ofcom's 86-page report to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on the options available for renewing Channel 3 (ITV) and Channel 5 public service broadcasting licences, which expire at the end of 2014.

The Ofcom report also asks Hunt to consider using the communications bill to look at issues including the highly contentious area of retransmission fees and rules to make sure internet service providers or IPTV companies do not overcharge for distributing PSB programmes or favour paid-for streaming services.

Ofcom's report contained a proposal from ITV to cut back the local content within its weekday evening regional TV news programmes.

Only 20 minutes during the half-hour programmes would be devoted to regional news, with the remaining 10 minutes used to deliver an aggregate of news events of interest to viewers across several regions.

ITV is also proposing to cut regional lunchtime news bulletins from six minutes to three minutes, late evening bulletins from nine minutes to five minutes and weekend bulletins from 10 minutes to five minutes.

In Ofcom's report published on Wednesday, ITV is also proposing increasing the number of regional news programmes it broadcasts in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders and Channel Islands from nine back to the 17 it offered before 2009.

An ITV spokesman said in a similar vein to the news programme the time cut back on local bulletins would be filled with more of a pan-regional news update.

"ITV makes a major contribution to news plurality in the UK – at no cost to the taxpayer," said the ITV spokesman. "In making the case for licence renewal or long-term extension, ITV has committed, in the area of news, to continue to broadcast a high quality, accurate and impartial national/international news service as we do at present – and to deliver high quality regions and nations services in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders and the Channel Islands on an economically sustainable basis."

Ofcom's report said the plan has "the potential to deliver more localised and news-driven content, potentially addressing viewer needs within the scope of existing costs". Ofcom will make the ultimate decision on any changes of ITV's regional news service, after Hunt decides whether or not to auction or renew the broadcasting licences.

Channel 5's submission to Ofcom calls for a cut in its requirement of a quota of its programming to come from production companies outside of London.

"We believe the modest burdens placed on Channel 5 from its existing obligations would continue to represent an appropriate contribution by the channel to the fulfilment of public service purposes in the next licence period," said Ofcom.

An analysis by Ofcom of Channel 5's output in 2010 shows 59% of original content shown by the broadcaster was repeats. This compares to a quarter across the ITV network and 51% of Channel 4's commissioned output.

Ofcom also asked Hunt to consider how the proposed communications bill might be used to "consider whether and how benefits of PSB status could be reformed to further encourage the fulfilment of public service purposes".

Ofcom highlighted four potential PSB issues to be considered, including the debate over retransmission fees.

Public service broadcasters, including the BBC, claim that if the US example was followed they should be paid up to £120m a year for providing rivals such as BSkyB with some of its top-rating programmes.

"Any changes in this area could affect the balance of payments between PSBs and platforms, potentially to the benefit of PSBs," said Ofcom.

Ofcom has also said that Hunt might look at strengthening regulation around electronic programming guide prominence – one of the biggest benefits for PSBs is being guaranteed the top positions on the EPG – and to look at extending it officially to new video on demand platforms.

Ofcom has also raised the issue of PSB content being carried in IPTV services and the role of internet service providers.

"Over time, distribution on IP-based platforms is likely to become more important to PSBs, with the result that new factors will become significant," said Ofcom. "The aggregators and ISPs carrying such content to consumers could contend that the distribution of PSB material places a heavy burden on their network capacity.

"If ISPs or IPTV aggregators elect to charge content providers for carriage, then even limited carriage payments could become relatively significant to PSBs."

Ofcom has said Hunt might look at a "must carry" provision for PSB content on such services to make sure that elements such as costs and charges could be regulated, as they are for example on BSkyB's satellite platform.

"Such an approach might effectively reduce the costs incurred by PSBs in securing wide distribution for public service content," said Ofcom.

"It could also mitigate against possible commercial incentives that might develop over time for some platforms to favour or prioritise treatment of other services (such as a paid-for streaming services) ahead of PSB content."

The fourth area that Ofcom raises is potentially to look at how rules regarding advertising minutage could be "used as a lever to help incentivise investment in UK content, both generally, and by the public service broadcasters in particular".

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